COBB COUNTY, Ga. — For more than 20 years, Cobb County-based MUST Ministries has been providing meals for hungry children in the metro Atlanta area through their Summer Lunch program.
Volunteers have made and delivered more than 250,000 sack lunches annually across the Atlanta area at various host sites across the region. The program serves up to 7,000 children daily in seven counties - Cobb, Cherokee, Bartow, Douglas, Pickens, Fulton and Gwinnett.
Now, MUST Ministries says they have been informed by local health officials that they are no longer permitted to accept homemade sandwiches for their Summer Lunch Program. The health department told 11Alive they were tipped off by a complaint from a volunteer.
In all the years they have provided food for the program, they say they have never noted a problem.
"After 23 years of following our food safety rules, we have never had anyone get sick, by the way," a social media post from MUST Ministries said.
Officials with MUST Ministries said this year's program was set to start next Sunday, so they were only given a one-week notice of this new directive.
They are now looking for donations to fund the program. For 75 cents, the charity says they are able to purchase a sandwich to feed a hungry child participating in the Summer Lunch program.
MUST Ministries is asking people to text MUSTSOS to 52182 to donate to the program.